The Dangers of Doomscrolling
Managing Headline-induced Stress in 2020
You know the feeling. Your heart beats faster. Your mind races. Senses heightened, time seems to slow down. Are you at the starting line for a race? Facing down a wild animal? Working up the nerve to ask for a raise or a date (remember those)? Haha no, you wish; you’re just watching the news in 2020.
According to a pair of recent studies by Feinberg et al—check out this excellent review and summary—political news is a potent stressor. According to a preprint on these studies, “Results indicate that day-to-day political events commonly evoke negative emotional reactions.” Listening to the latest news can make you feel worse physically, mentally, and emotionally.
It’s worth pointing out that the results discussed here are from work done pre-pandemic. There’s plenty of support for pandemic news as a great way to ruin your day as well. Reuters Institute conducted a survey in the UK this spring and found that, after an initial surge in news consumption, a lot of people started avoiding COVID-19 news like the plague (forgive me). The most commonly cited reason for avoiding news was that it would have a negative effect on their mood.
Small wonder then that people try to distract themselves, or reappraise the situation and convince themselves that things aren’t as dire as they seem. But, according to Feinberg et al, while these strategies increase physical and psychological well-being, they simultaneously decrease the urge to take political action. And in the long run, that means that people who avoid “bad” news, or more specifically avoid the feelings that the news can evoke, are less likely to do the sorts of things that may help to change the underlying situation.
There was one strategy, though, that increased well-being without quashing the desire to take action. Accepting the emotions that arose from thinking about news events, rather than fighting to change or avoid those feelings, led to a higher degree of well-being without a loss of motivation to take actions like volunteer, donate to a campaign, attend a protest, etc.
Take care of yourself
Now, with the presidential election rhetoric approaching a crescendo and the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spread, it’s all but impossible to avoid stressing out about the general state of things. You can’t avoid it, but you can manage it. Here are some self-care tips from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America:
Take a time-out: clear your head with music, meditation, yoga, or other relaxation techniques
Eat right: don’t skip meals, eat healthy foods
Limit alcohol and caffeine: this is always good advice, really
Get enough sleep: a good night’s sleep is the foundation of good mental and physical health
Exercise daily: this could be as simple as walking the dogs around the block; you don’t have to go to the gym or train for a marathon, just get your body moving
Laugh: maybe it’s not the best medicine, but laughter is right up there
Talk to your family and friends: it’s ok if you’re not always ok; talk to the people who support you
The link above has a bunch of other tips on dealing with stress and anxiety, so give it a quick read and take this advice to heart. Remember, taking care of yourself during interesting times like this is the best thing you can do for the people you care about. You know how they tell you, in the pre-flight airline safety briefing, to put your own mask on first? It’s the same principle. You can’t help anyone if you’re incapacitated by stress and anxiety, so tend to yourself so you can be there for the ones who count on you.